Kilik, Tuhuy and the rest of the members of this Chumash Indian family step into the Gold Rush Era and the early years of California statehood before returning to their ancient home in the lands of their ancestors.

Lands of our Ancestors Book Three

Children's Books

Robinson, Gary

Literature & Fiction

Tribal Eye Productions

This Teacher's Guide is designed to enrich the teaching of historical novel Lands of our Ancestors Book Two. The guide begins with the California Content Standards for History-Social Sciences the book addresses. This is followed by an overview of the Mexican Rancho Period in California history. The largest section of the guide is devoted to Questions, Answers and Words to Know for each of the book's chapters. Finishing the guide is a section of student projects and activities.

Lands of Our Ancestors Book Two Teacher's Guide

History

Drake, Dessa

Americas

This historical novel tells the story of a twelve-year-old Chumash boy and his family who become captives in a California Spanish mission sometime more than 200 years ago. This is historical fiction based entirely on historical fact that reveals the devastating impact the missions had on California Native peoples. Written for fourth, fifth and sixth graders, the story ends on a hopeful note as a small group of Native children are able to escape their captors and begin a journey to join other Native escapees in a remote mountain village. As mandated by the California Department of Education, every 4th grader is taught the "Mission Unit," which perpetuates the "idyllic mission myth" that glorifies the priests, denigrates California Indians and fails to mention that Indians were actually treated as slaves held captive by a Spanish colonial institution. The manuscript has been reviewed and approved by the Director of the Santa Ynez Chumash Culture Department and a member of the California American Indian Education Oversight Committee. It has the endorsement of a fourth grade teacher in California who has shared the story with her class and a local librarian who is excited about sharing the story with elementary age children through the library. It has also been endorsed by the local library branch manager and a former professor of Anthropology within the University of California system.

Lands of our Ancestors Book One

Kirkus Review called this "a concise, moving history of American Indian military service." The book opens with a burning, difficult question that both enlivens and haunts the pages that follow: “Why have American Indians served, and why do they continue to serve, a government that has betrayed and broken promises to native peoples for multiple generations?” Robinson &amp; Lucas let their question breathe, all allow the actions of this story’s heroes-from Geronimo and Chief Joseph to the late Lori Ann Piestewa, a Hopi soldier killed in Iraq in 2003-speak for themselves. These narratives form an amazing record of self-discovery and political courage, one in which people forcibly divested of their land and traditions continue to look for their place in the sometimes violent, sometimes hopeful history of the United States. The book’s authors initially intended for their project to be a television documentary, and it is easy to imaging the work as a smart hour of public television. Robinson and Lucas are not academically trained, and military historians and scholars won’t find much here that is new (although the authors do provide an extensive bibliography). Interested readers, however, will find a wonderful and compendious account of American Indian military service from the colonial period to the present. The book is a nice, engaging read. Recommended reading for anyone curious about American military and Native American history.

From Warriors to Soldiers: A History of American Indian Service in the U.S. Military

Lucas, Phil

This booklet answers frequently asked questions about Native American tribes, tribal governments and tribal sovereignty. Questions such as: What is a tribal government? When did they originate? How does the concept of sovereignty relate to Indian tribes? Why are tribes allowed to operate casinos. Scholars consulted for the research for this book in the fields of government and society, anthropology, history and tribal gaming. Perfect for presentations to local government officials, community groups and students in high school or college.

Tribal Sovereignty: The Right to Self-Rule

Politics & Social Sciences

Robinson, Mr. Gary

Social Sciences

This Teachers Guide is designed to enrich teaching Lands of Our Ancestors across the curriculum. The guide begins with an overview of the Chumash people and their history as well as documentation of the accuracy of the events portrayed in the story. This information will provide the teacher with important background information about the Chumash people in pre-Columbian California and can be used to introduce the book. The cultural revitalization work of present day Chumash people is also highlighted. In addition, there are images of traditional Chumash houses, foods, tools, a ceremonial leader, and a hunter. These images help illustrate the story. The second section of the guide contains “Questions, Answers, and Words to Know” for each chapter of Lands of Our Ancestors. The questions can be used in teacher directed class discussions, small group discussions, or as written work. The variety of questions in each chapter align with The Six Levels of Questioning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Answers are provided for all chapter questions. New vocabulary, including Chumash words, are found in each chapter’s “Words to Know” page. Finally, to extend the learning after the book is completed, the guide includes eight project choices to engage students. The projects are designed to meet the needs of the diverse learners found in most classrooms. Each project meets a specific fourth grade History-Social Science Content Standard for California Public Schools. The standard is listed with each project. Students who complete reading the story, discuss or write responses to the questions, and learn the new vocabulary words will meet a variety of the fourth grade California Common Core State Standards in reading, writing, and language.

Lands of our Ancestors Teacher's Guide

Wallace, Cathleen Chilcote

Featuring rare interviews with Comanche, Choctaw and Navajo code talkers, this easy-to-read non-fiction book recounts how American Indian soldiers from twenty different tribes used their native languages to send coded military messages in two world wars that were never deciphered by the enemy and helped win American victories.
Providing useful historical and cultural context, The Language of Victory first discusses the evolution of military communications that ultimately led to the 20th century use of electronic communications. The author then briefly examines American Indian historical, cultural and linguistic developments prior to WWI. This background is followed by accounts of the history of the Code Talkers in two world wars, including information derived from interviews with code talkers conducted in 1992. Then the book traces the slowly unfolding recognition that finally came to these veterans decades later, culminating in the Code Talker Recognition Act of 2008 that mandated the creation of Congressional medals that were awarded to these men and the tribes posthumously.
In the book's final chapter, the author contrasts the changing federal government policies that transformed American Indian languages from cultural relics worthy only of the trash bin to valued gems demanding preservation, and he reflects on the question of how America's history might have been altered if missionaries and government agencies had been successful in eliminating America's indigenous languages.
The Cover Art: The original cover art, based on the Plains Indian ledger style, was created by Michael Horse, an internationally known actor and artist of Yaqui, Apache and Zuni Indian descent originally from Arizona. Samples of his award-winning work can be viewed on his website: www.michaelhorse.com.
About the author: Gary Robinson, a writer and filmmaker of Cherokee and Choctaw descent, has spent more than twenty-five years telling the stories of American Indian people in print and television. His previous non-fiction military history book, From Warriors to Soldiers, examines the history of American Indians in the U.S. military from the Revolutionary War to modern times. He currently lives in the California's Santa Ynez Valley.

The Language of Victory: Code Talkers of WWI and WWII

Kilik, Tuhuy and the other Native American children have escaped from a Spanish mission in California in the early 1800s. They find the village of other runaway Indians and become part of that community. As they grow and mature, they have children of their own. Together they must face a new set of adversaries, the Mexican Rancheros who have received massive land grants to establish huge cattle ranches. Book Two recounts the exciting and dangerous adventures this Chumash family experience in this multigenerational saga.

Lands of our Ancestors Book Two

This Teacher's Guide is designed to enrich teaching Lands of Our Ancestors Book Three across the curriculum. After this introduction, the guide begins with the California Content Standards for 4th grade History-Social Sciences the book addresses. This will provide teachers with important information about what the focus should be in teaching the Mexican-American War, Gold Rush and Early Statehood periods.Section Three contains Overviews of the periods addressed in Book Three. This is followed by a section that validates the accuracy of the events portrayed in Book Three. Section Five provides pages of Images of Life during the era. These images help illustrate the story for students. Because the characters relocate several times during the story, Section Six is a list of the main geographic locations of the book.Next, the guide provides a list of additional sources of information about the Chumash people, the Gold Rush and Statehood, if needed, for further research.The next section of the guide contains the same "Characters and Relationships" reference as well as the "Timeline" found in the book. Section ten, the largest section of this guide, contains "Questions, Answers, and Words to Know" for each chapter of Book Three. The questions can be used in teacher-directed class discussions, small group discussions, or as written work. The variety of questions in each chapter align with The Six Levels of Questioning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Answers are provided for all chapter questions. New vocabulary, including words from the Samala Chumash, other tribes, and Spanish languages, are found in each chapter's "Words to Know" section.

Lands of our Ancestors Book Three Teacher's Guide

Messecar, Fred

Education & Teaching

This historical novel follows three generations of a Chumash Indian family as they experience brutal eras of history, the Spanish mission era, the Mexican Rancho period, the Gold Rush and the early years of California statehood.

Lands of our Ancestors: Three Generations

Teen & Young Adult

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Tribal Eye Productions publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tribal Eye Productions